Eurobarometer Survey 39.0: European Community Policies and Family Life, March-April 1993

Abstract

This round of Euro-Barometer surveys focused on the current status of the European Community (EC), assessing respondents' awareness of and attitudes toward (1) the EC's activities and institutions, (2) various aspects of the Maastricht Treaty and the European Union, (3) EC policies, and (4) the European Parliament's work. A special set of questions focused on issues facing European societies, including family values and attitudes toward immigrants and people in other countries. Respondents were asked to rank their level of interest in European politics, and to indicate their level of support for the unification of Western Europe, including: (a) the degree to which they found European unification personally important, (b) whether they thought membership in the EC was a good thing, (c) whether membership would benefit their country, and (d) how they would feel if the EC were eliminated. They also rated how well they thought democracy worked in the EC and in their own country. Awareness of European institutions was measured by questions on how much respondents knew about the European Parliament, the European Council, the European Court, the European Commission, the Council of Ministers, and others. Several questions concerned the presidency of the EC's Council of Ministers, then held by Denmark. In addition, participants were asked about their knowledge of and attitudes toward the Maastricht Treaty on European Union and the proposed European Monetary Union. This section of the questionnaire explored the Maastricht Treaty's implications for national and EC control of drug traffic, crime, defense, immigration, and a number of other areas of public policy. With regard to defense policy, respondents were asked specifically whether the EC should intervene militarily in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Opinions were obtained on the formation of a European Union with a European government responsible to the European Parliament. The Single European Market, in operation since January 1, 1993, was the topic of several questions, including whether respondents regarded the Single Market with hope or fear, and whether they had yet had any direct experience with the Single Market. In anticipation of the first general election of a European Parliament by the European Community's citizens in June 1994, the survey assessed respondents' awareness of the European Parliament, their overall impressions of its work, and opinions about its role in policymaking. Participants' intentions to vote and reasons for not voting in the upcoming election were also solicited. A special focus of this Euro-Barometer was the family, its composition and personal importance to respondents, and family values. The respective roles of mother and father in various parenting tasks were explored. The trend for grown children to stay at home longer was evaluated by respondents as good or bad for the children and the parents. Respondents assessed the priority for government policy on a number of family issues, such as infant care leave, availability of child care, availability of housing, and flexible working hours. Citizens' opinions of other European peoples and countries were sought through questions asking how much trust respondents placed in the people of various EC countries (as well as the United States, Japan, and Russia), which countries they favored becoming part of the European Community, and which citizens of other countries ought to be able to work and reside in the European Community. A number of questions concerned immigration and its effects on the European Community. Opinions were also solicited about Summer Time, a move to prolong daylight by putting clocks forward one hour from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in September. As in previous Euro-Barometers, questions on political party preference asked respondents which party they felt closest to, how they voted in their country's last general election, and how they would vote if a general election were held the next day. Additional information was gathered on life satisfaction, family income, number of people residing in the home, size of locality, home ownership, trade union membership, region of residence, occupation of the head of household, and the respondent's age, sex, education, religion, religiosity, subjective social class standing, socio-professional status, languages spoken, access to and use of media, left-right political self-placement, and opinion leadership.